Paragraph Production and the Given-New Contract

The Given-New Contract is a theory of information transfer that helps explain why unified and cohesive paragraphs are essential for effective written communications. The theory also suggests a practical methodology for the construction of unified and cohesive paragraphs. The first part of this paper explains the theory of the Given-New Contract, and the second part offers a strategy for teaching paragraph production that is based on the theory of the Given-New Contract.